{"id":9374,"date":"2023-04-21T14:58:12","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T14:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=9374"},"modified":"2023-04-21T14:58:12","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T14:58:12","slug":"dr-pete-walker","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/dr-pete-walker\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Pete Walker"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]\n

Dr. Pete Walker Oral History<\/span><\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][page_submenu alignment=”center” sticky=”true” bg_color=”#008542″ link_color=”#ffffff”][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1682088767236-6″ tab_id=”1682088767237-6″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/manuscripts-and-guides\/” title=”Manuscripts & Subject Guides<\/strong>” id=”1682088767227-1″ tab_id=”1682088767227-7″] [\/page_link][page_link title=”Visit<\/strong>” id=”1682088777235-9″ tab_id=”1682088777236-2″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1682088778008-3″ tab_id=”1682088778009-4″ link_url=” https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1682088778742-8″ tab_id=”1682088778743-6″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1682088779541-0″ tab_id=”1682088779542-4″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/yearbooks-alumni-magazines-delta-state-histories\/”][\/page_link][\/page_submenu][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Walker, Dr. Pete\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tape 1 of 1\u00a0 \u00a010\/11\/99\u00a0 OH# 268<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Kari Willis<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is an interview for the Mississippi Oral History Project.\u00a0 The interview is being recorded with Dr. Pete Walker at his residence on October 11, 1999.\u00a0 The interviewer is Kari Willis.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Did you go to Delta State?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 No, I went to school in Mississippi State.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 You graduated when?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I graduated in 1951.\u00a0 That was my first degree.\u00a0 Then in 1964 was my masters.\u00a0 Then in 1966 was a doctorate.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 What sort of ethnic background did you grow up in?\u00a0 How did your family end up in this area in Mississippi?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 We were primarily in south Mississippi.\u00a0 My father was French from Generate, LA.\u00a0 She married my mother from Pearl River County down here in Poplarville.\u00a0 We migrated through Columbia, MS, Tylertown, MS.\u00a0 So I grew up right in that area.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Where did your parents go to school?\u00a0 What level of education did they finish?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I am not sure.\u00a0 My mother probably graduated from high school in Pearl River.\u00a0 My father I think went to the second grade.\u00a0 He was a member of a French family, and they farmed.\u00a0 They needed him at home.\u00a0 Rather him going to school, they pulled him out and he cooked and helped around the house for the family.\u00a0 Later on he got into the Caf\u00e9 business, and that is where he learned to cook.\u00a0 He had about a second grade education.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 How long did he own the Caf\u00e9?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Oh different Cafes, One was the Dew Drop Inn in Columbia, MS and Chatterbox in Tylertown.\u00a0 There was about three or four years each time.\u00a0 He would buy them and build up the business, and then he would sell them at a profit.\u00a0 That is where he made his money.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Okay, and your mother did she help with the Caf\u00e9 business?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 No, my mother passed away when I was about four years old.\u00a0 No I was six years old.\u00a0 She was in the hotel business herself with the Caf\u00e9.\u00a0 I really never had a chance to know my mother after I was six years old.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 When were they married?\u00a0 Do you know?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I would say about 1915, something like that.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Do you have any brothers or sisters?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Yes, I have a brother who is a medical doctor in Columbia, and I have one brother who is deceased.\u00a0 He was a Light Colonel retired in the Army in Florida.\u00a0 I have one sister who lives in Atlanta, and one sister who lives Sara Soda, Florida.\u00a0 They are all older than me.\u00a0 I am the baby.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 So you have a big family.\u00a0 You are the youngest child.\u00a0 Where did you say that you grew up, and what was it like?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I grew up in Tylertown, MS.\u00a0 It is a town about 2500, and all the people are very friendly.\u00a0 They knew everybody, and knew everybody\u2019s business.\u00a0 We had a group of boys that were real close together.\u00a0 It was about fifteen of us that went to school and played football together.\u00a0 We had a real good football team.\u00a0 Out of that fifteen, I think eleven went to college on a full football scholarship.\u00a0 The people were very nice to us.\u00a0 It was just a good hometown.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 What would you say the population is there?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 About 2500.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 About 2500, even now has it grown?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 No, it is a dairy community.\u00a0 A lot of people there milk cows and ship the milk to New Orleans.\u00a0 That is part of the work we did that and truck farming.\u00a0 We used to help load potatoes and cabbage into boxcars.\u00a0 We would make a little extra money that way.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 What was your home life like growing up?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I had a stepmother.\u00a0 We had a Caf\u00e9 at the time.\u00a0 I worked in the Caf\u00e9, sometimes in the kitchen and sometimes up front.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t live in a home.\u00a0 It was a little place in the back of the Caf\u00e9.\u00a0 It was two or three rooms in the back of the Caf\u00e9.\u00a0 I grew up part of the time there.\u00a0 Then other times I lived with my sisters and different people.\u00a0 About the eleventh grade I went out on my own.\u00a0 I went to Elliser Junior College.\u00a0 I went there on a football scholarship.\u00a0 I finished high school.\u00a0 Then I got a football scholarship to Mississippi State.\u00a0 I was kind of independent after I was an eleventh grader, and I liked it.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 I should say so.\u00a0 So you transferred to Mississippi State from Ellisfer Junior College?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Yes, but I finished high school at Ellisfer Junior College.\u00a0 I entered State as a freshman.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Okay, on a football scholarship.\u00a0 What did you graduate in at Mississippi State?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 In physical education.\u00a0 That was my first degree.\u00a0 My masters was in Counseling and Testing.\u00a0 My doctorate was in School Administrator with a minor in Psychology.\u00a0 That is what I taught at Delta State, Psychology and School Administration.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 How long did you teach here at Delta State?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Let\u2019s see I taught at Delta State, it must be twenty years.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 When did you retire from Delta State?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I believe it was nine years ago.\u00a0 I forget the exact year.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Now what exactly do you do at the golf course?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I manage the golf course.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 You are the manager.<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I see that all the greens, fairways, and tees are taken care off.\u00a0 I hire work-study students.\u00a0 I hire other retired adults.\u00a0 I see that tournaments are run correctly and golf classes and golf clinics.\u00a0 I work with Sam Dunning a Pro at Cleveland Country Club.\u00a0 We put on golf clinics.\u00a0 We have the course ready for students, faculty, and staff to play on.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 How long have you been working at the golf course on campus?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I would say seven years.\u00a0 I get my years confused now.\u00a0 I can get my wife in here, and she would get me straight on those.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 What did you do for fun and social activities growing up?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I liked to fish.\u00a0 I like woodwork.\u00a0 I flew at one time.\u00a0 That was after I was an adult.\u00a0 I like to play golf.\u00a0 I play a good bit now in the afternoons.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t believe in dancing when I grew up.\u00a0 That was a no, no.\u00a0 A little bit on when I was at Mississippi State, I danced some.\u00a0 I listened to the big bands, Benny Goodman.\u00a0 Glen Miller was dead, but Tex Benicky, one of the men in his band, took his band over.\u00a0 Spike Jones, his was a comedian band.\u00a0 All the big bands would come to State, and we would have a big party.\u00a0 That was a big time for everybody.\u00a0 The girls from MCSW would come over.\u00a0 They would bring them over in busses.\u00a0 They would have to have permission from parents to stay with somebody in town.\u00a0 They would stay the weekend, and then they would go back to M. S. C. W.\u00a0 We would go back to school.\u00a0 We danced in the cafeteria.\u00a0 There was long cafeteria that had a gothic top to it.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Perry Cafeteria is that the same cafeteria?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Yes that is the same one.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 It is remodeled now.<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Yes that is where we had our dances.\u00a0 We had our basketball games in an old.\u00a0 We called it the \u201cBarn.\u201d\u00a0 It was in a tin building.\u00a0 The basketball floor was set up on two by fours or stilts.\u00a0 It was four or five feet above the ground.\u00a0 They had heaters in there that burned wood to heat it.\u00a0 It was just an old timey building.\u00a0 They moved from that into the Coliseum, which would seat about four thousand.\u00a0 Now they are in the Coliseum that seats about twelve thousand.\u00a0 We would go to the basketball games and the baseball games, and we just had a good time.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Did you meet your wife in college?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Yes, she was at M. S. C. W.\u00a0 I met her on a blind date.\u00a0 It was myself and Jim Chairman, a friend of mine; this girl got us a blind date.\u00a0 We flipped to see who would get Sue.\u00a0 He won and got Sue, and I lost and got Margaret.\u00a0 Margaret is my wife.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 How long were you dating before you got married?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Oh about three years.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Three years.\u00a0 Did you get married here in Cleveland?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Right at the First Baptist Church here.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 You all have lived here in Cleveland for about forty years?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 No, we lived in Starksville first.\u00a0 We married when I was in college, my last year.\u00a0 Margaret was through.\u00a0 My senior year, she worked at the Library at Mississippi State.\u00a0 I was playing my last year of football.\u00a0 Then I coached a half of a year at Hamilton, MS.\u00a0 Then I went to Louisville, and I was an assistant coach there.\u00a0 I taught five classes.\u00a0 Margaret was a Librarian there.\u00a0 Then I went to the Army.\u00a0 That was in the Korean conflict.\u00a0 I spent two years there.\u00a0 Then I came back, and I coached at Belzona, MS for two years.\u00a0 Then I spent one year at Meridian, then came back to Shaw.\u00a0 I coached there for a couple of years.\u00a0\u00a0 Then to Cleveland, and then I went back to Mississippi State to get my doctorate.\u00a0 I had about fifteen years of coaching and teaching at high schools.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 How long did you say you taught here on campus at Delta State?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 It was about twenty years.\u00a0 It was from 1966 to 1986.\u00a0 It was about twenty years.\u00a0 I came here to be a professor, and before I taught a class, the counselor, Dr. Lucy, transferred to Southern.\u00a0 So that opened that position up.\u00a0 So I was the Director of Counseling and Testing for four years.\u00a0 Then I was Administrating Assistance for two years.\u00a0 Then I went back to teaching.\u00a0 That is where I really enjoyed my teaching.\u00a0 I taught the rest of the time.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Who was president at the time you were working here?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Dr. James Ewing<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Ewing<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Then when he left, Dr. Aubrey Lucas was president.\u00a0 Dr. White and I worked across from each other.\u00a0 He was in the Alumni office, and I was in the Director of Counselor and Testing.\u00a0 We have been real close friends all the time.\u00a0 In fact we taught high school together at Cleveland.\u00a0 He taught me how to play golf on the playground at Cleveland High School.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 What do you remember the most about W. W. I and the depression?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 W. W. I, I wasn\u2019t born at that time.\u00a0 I was born in \u201928.\u00a0 The war was over in 1919.\u00a0 I remember a little bit about the depression but not much.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have a lot of toys.\u00a0 We made most of the things that we wanted to play with.\u00a0 It was a lot of fun.\u00a0 I remember my mother was always very careful when she gave me food.\u00a0 She would tell me to be sure to eat it all because there is a lot of people hungry.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember, but they would tell a story about the tramps coming around to the back door.\u00a0 She would always feed them, but she would make them work a little bit for the food.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t just give them food.\u00a0 I can remember some of the tramps coming around, but I wouldn\u2019t get that close to them.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t do a lot of talking to them.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Do you remember anything about Vietnam or the Civil Rights Movement?\u00a0 Were any your family members involved?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Not in the Vietnam or Civil Right in any degree.\u00a0 Now right after that, well civil rights tied right into the racial question.\u00a0 When I was at Delta State, I was Dean of Students when they had the up rising here.\u00a0 The students complained the food.\u00a0 They wanted soul food.\u00a0 They were not getting soul food.\u00a0 That was one of the complaints.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember what the other\u2019s were.\u00a0 They had a sit-in.\u00a0 They sit right in front of Dr. Ewing\u2019s office.\u00a0 My office was right next door to his.\u00a0 We had an idea that something was coming.\u00a0 We pretty well knew that there was unrest everywhere in the colleges and the universities.\u00a0 We pretty well knew it was coming.\u00a0 He had called the judge up in Missouri, and he got all the information that he needed so he would be legally sound in what he did.\u00a0 He was at home, and I was in my office.\u00a0 We were on the telephone.\u00a0 He was telling exactly what steps to take and what to do.\u00a0 There were about fifty blacks out in the hall.\u00a0 They were sitting down.\u00a0 There were several complaints.\u00a0 I think that is on record in the Archives about the uprising at that time.\u00a0 He called the Highway Patrol to come and tell them that they were trespassing.\u00a0 They were not going to let him in his office after lunch.\u00a0 I was right in at the entrance of the door where my office was.\u00a0 His office was right next door to mine.\u00a0 The Highway Patrol came in.\u00a0 He had informed them exactly what the judge told him exactly what we could and could not do.\u00a0 This is all from memory.\u00a0 This is not documenting anything.\u00a0 The Highway Patrol said, \u201cYou\u2019re trespassing.\u00a0 I am going to ask you to move.\u201d\u00a0 They would not move.\u00a0 That was a sit-in.\u00a0 That was not just at Delta State but at a lot of places.\u00a0 I am going to ask you a second time to move you are trespassing.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t move.\u00a0 The next time that I ask you to move, if you do not move there is bus outside.\u00a0 We are going to march you out to the bus, load you up, and take you to Parchman.\u00a0 So he said, \u201cYou trespassing, and I am going to ask you to move.\u201d\u00a0 They did not.\u00a0 So he had some other Highway Patrol men come in, and they moved the students out into the bus.\u00a0 Men and women went to Parchman.\u00a0 They spent the night up there, and then they came back.\u00a0 Then we had some hearings, and they gave their complaints.\u00a0 We heard them, and we worked out what we could with the students.\u00a0 We were trying to justify what we were doing with them and the white students too.\u00a0 We always had pretty good relations here.\u00a0 I do remember one thing.\u00a0 They were going to take the flag down at the flagpole and put up another flag up.\u00a0 Several of us went out and stood at the flagpole and said that no you are not going to do that.\u00a0 So they back down.\u00a0 After that it took about two weeks.\u00a0 Things were pretty hectic.\u00a0 During the same time, we had a system that Dr. Ewing set up where he might call me the Dean of the University and one other person.\u00a0 We in turn may call four people.\u00a0 They in turn would call four more.\u00a0 They had the names.\u00a0 With in fifteen or twenty minutes we could have a whole group out at Delta State to control anything that went on.\u00a0 The entire faculty was involved with control and behavior.\u00a0 When Dr. Ewing was here it was like a big family.\u00a0 He was kind of the father and we were his children.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Do you remember anything about the river flooding?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 No, well in 1983.\u00a0 In \u201927 was the big flood.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t in this are then.\u00a0 In fact I wasn\u2019t born then.\u00a0 So no I don\u2019t remember.\u00a0 In 1983 it flooded down near Vicksburg.\u00a0 I remember driving to Vicksburg and seeing water on both sides of the road.\u00a0 In fact at one time that road was closed.\u00a0 People with homes down there built damns around their homes to keep it out.\u00a0 Nothing up in this area was flooded.\u00a0 It was down that way.\u00a0 I worked on the river when I was going to Mississippi State.\u00a0 I worked for the Core of Engineers.\u00a0 One of the things that I can remember well, the old river men on there.\u00a0 They were afraid of one thing.\u00a0 They were not afraid of snakes or anything else.\u00a0 They were afraid of the river.\u00a0 They respected it.\u00a0 If you fell in once, you got a warning.\u00a0 The second time you fell in the river you were fired.\u00a0 That is how cautious we were of the river.\u00a0 I remember we were sitting on a quarter boat.\u00a0 That is where we slept and we ate.\u00a0 We would go out there and stay for about three weeks.\u00a0 Several of my college friends and myself were out there.\u00a0 They called us schoolboys.\u00a0 We heard the Spraig.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if you are familiar with the Spraig or not?\u00a0 It was a big old paddle wheel boat.\u00a0 It was museum at Vicksburg, but it burned.\u00a0 You can hear it coming up the river.\u00a0 It had a sound like no other boat had.\u00a0 I remember the man who worked on the river and said to me, \u201cYou better get off this river.\u201d\u00a0 I said why captain.\u00a0 He said that river will get in your blood and you will stay here for the rest of your life.\u00a0 A lot of them were educated men.\u00a0 They just loved the river that much.\u00a0 They stayed there and worked on it.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Did you say that you have flown before?\u00a0 Do you have a pilot\u2019s license?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I have a pilot\u2019s license.\u00a0 I flew out at Delta State.\u00a0 In fact, Dr. Rico taught me to fly.\u00a0 Dr. Rico was the one who started the Aviation Program here at Delta State.\u00a0 Him and I wrote part of the program, and Dr. Jack Gunn the Dean of Students wrote part of it.\u00a0 We combined that.\u00a0 It wrote it to get the Aviation program started here.\u00a0 The Aviation program has been real successful.\u00a0 I flew with him.\u00a0 I passed all my commercial work, and I was going to take my commercial flight\u2019s test.\u00a0 Then I found that you had to have a excellent instrument rating to really do anything with commercial other you could fly twenty-five miles from home base.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t really good at instruments, so I just dropped it.\u00a0 I had about three hundred hours flying.\u00a0 A friend of mine and I built a home built.\u00a0 That is an airplane that you just build from scratch.\u00a0 The FFA inspects it all along as you are going.\u00a0 We had a Volkswagen engine in it.\u00a0 It was made out of fiberglass and wood.\u00a0 It is called a KR2.\u00a0 It was flown all around the country.\u00a0 We got it all ready, and we took it out to the airport.\u00a0 We cranked it up.\u00a0 I was flying it.\u00a0 I got it about ten feet off the ground.\u00a0 When I was coming down, I deaned the prop up.\u00a0 It was real sensitive.\u00a0 It is more sensitive than a regular airplane.\u00a0 Some of my friends said that the thing to do is just get in it and take off and fly.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t ready to do that.\u00a0 My partner didn\u2019t want to fly it.\u00a0 So we sold it to a man in Colorado.\u00a0 As far as I know he is still flying it.\u00a0 It took us about five years to build it.\u00a0 We built it in a barn out here in the country.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 What kind of airplane was that?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 It was called a home built.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 And RT?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 KR2, it was real good little airplane.\u00a0 It would cruise at about hundred miles an hour.\u00a0 You could fly with five gallons for about two or three hours on it.\u00a0 It was very economically.\u00a0 You could fly up to about ten thousand feet.\u00a0 It was a nice little airplane.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 You and your best friend?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Ted Cummings, is a friend of mine.\u00a0 He worked with Mississippi Power and Light.\u00a0 He knew all about the airplanes.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t.\u00a0 I was kind of the laborer.\u00a0 Level Hendrix, who is the maintenance manager for the city worked on it with us some too.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Okay you flew it around Cleveland or the delta?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 That is where we were going to fly it.\u00a0 I just got it off the ground out at the airport.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t fly it.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t a good enough a pilot to handle it.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Who has most influenced you life from you family members?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 From my family, my sister I thing.\u00a0 Hazel Riley who lives in Atlantic now, and she was a schoolteacher.\u00a0 She taught elementary, and she was an elementary school principal.\u00a0 She was in the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, but she was very influential.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 In your growing up, was she another mother figure to you?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 Yeah, I wasn\u2019t with you but for about a year.\u00a0 Though she stayed in touch.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 She is the only sister, or there is another?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 No, I have another sister, May Slatton Gratin.\u00a0 She married a Sweed from Minnesota.\u00a0 He was a tax expert.\u00a0 They traveled.\u00a0 They went to India and Pakistan and several places with the government to work out tax problems for their government.\u00a0 She is very well traveled.\u00a0 She was a good sister.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 Hazel, the one that most influenced your life, why would you say she influenced your life?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I think her personality.\u00a0 She was strong, but sweet.\u00a0 She would always take care of you. She could hold her own in any kind of argument and in any kind of discussion.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 What was the most important thing that you learn from home?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 I reckon honesty and the concern for other people.<\/p>\n

KW:\u00a0 The next set of questions have to do with your early education.\u00a0 Where did you go to elementary school?<\/p>\n

PW:\u00a0 My first school that I can remember was in Pearl River County.\u00a0 I lived with the superintendent of the schools.\u00a0 That is after my mother died, I was going to one place to another.\u00a0 The teacher that I had was his wife.\u00a0 She had a quite an influence on life.\u00a0 I remember we would take our lunch.\u00a0 We would put our lunch in the lunchroom.\u00a0 The school smelled of lunches.\u00a0 It was usually biscuit and egg sandwiches, baked potatoes, or sweet milk.\u00a0 I also lived with my Aunt Sara and went to that school.\u00a0 She lived about four or five miles from there.\u00a0 We would take our lunch.\u00a0 All the floors were mopped with an oily substance.\u00a0 They were wood floors.\u00a0 That kept the dust down and kept them clean.\u00a0 That smell and the floors would kind of mixed.\u00a0 If you smelled that, you were in school.\u00a0 We had a basketball court.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t play basketball at the time, but the high school did.\u00a0 We had the high school and the elementary all together then.\u00a0 It was probably two hundred students all together.\u00a0 We had a basketball court.\u00a0 It was dirt.\u00a0 They had a goal at each end.\u00a0 There were no stands.\u00a0 You just stood around the corner.\u00a0 At recess we would eat most of our lunch at recess.\u00a0 Then at lunch we wouldn\u2019t have anything left. (Tape cut off)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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